Me: OOOH! I own Darkest Powers!

Chloe: Liar.

Me: Pleease. You're more of a liar than me.

Chloe: Oh yeah?

Me: Yeah.

Chloe: UNDEAD SQUIRELL ARMY ATTAAAACK!

Me: NOOOO! OK I ADMIT IT: I DON'T OWN DARKEST POWERS! RUN AWAAAAAY!

I hummed softly to myself as I began the slow process of transforming my image. I watched as my hair turned mousy brown and my eyes turned a rich chocolate. My skin turned a peachy-tan color, and my facial features rearranged themselves. And then it was finished.

I looked in the mirror at my alibi, a girl I had named Sarah Saldana. My necklace, an heirloom my father had given to my mother the day before they died, at the hollow of my throat. I took one last look at my aunt lying exhausted on the couch before I turned to the attic door. I used my bobby pin to pick the lock, and then I walked inside.

I was an old musty room with things stuffed everywhere. A rocking horse from when I was 3, a stack of books on supernaturals. But the object of my focus was a jewelry box at the back of the room. I opened one of the drawers and pulled out a heart-shaped diamond. I thought firmly of my destination, and placed the diamond into the identical slot in my necklace.

As soon as the diamond and the necklace made contact, I felt the numbing buzz of my powers being dulled to a point. And then the real magic set in.

My fingers and toes tingled with raw forbidden magic, and I laughed when I thought of how they would take it, if they ever found out.

But I had to do it. I had to go back to the past to save the future.